


Blackmail

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Blood, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Expect more tags to be added, F/M, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Isolation, Kissing, M/M, Romance, Rough Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:21:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21922099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sollux doesn't want to become a helmsman.Eridan isn't as sure he'll be happy leaving Alternia as he used to be.Maybe they were both right to be worried.
Relationships: Eridan Ampora/Sollux Captor, Sollux Captor/Feferi Peixes
Comments: 7
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

The Empress drummed her fingers on her throne. She had just finished conquering the area she had been working on for sweeps. Left with nothing interesting to do, she checked on how the current heiress was doing. She discovered that the heiress was turning eight sweeps.

Grinning, she thought, “Maybe it’s time I visited home”.

Sollux had debated for sweeps whether or not to run. Multiple of his friends were going to run from the drones. Feferi, his matesprit, was staying to hide from the Empress, so she could train to take her down. He could stay with them, and avoid his biggest fear, becoming a helmsman. He knew his psionics were powerful. They were more powerful than anyone he had ever met or heard of. It had always seemed inevitable that he would become a helmsman.

He had eventually come to the conclusion that he should run away with his friends. A life on the run was better than submitting to becoming a helmsman. They had set plans to leave at the start of the next perigee, which was coming up fast.

Then he heard something in the hallway. Carefully, he opened the door to his hive to see what it was. Drones were coming down the hall, towards him. He closed and locked the door, and ran to the other side of his hive. He heard what sounded like the drones destroying his door, He hid under the desk, and pulled his legs up to his chest. He tried not to breathe loudly, but his heart rate accelerated and he started to shake. When one found him, he grabbed with his psionics and threw it. He fought them, but they didn’t break and they had him cornered. As one drone grabbed him, Sollux realized that he didn’t have to spend all their time thinking about whether or not to run because in the end, he didn’t have a choice. He was always meant to be doomed.

Eridan had waited for this day for sweeps. He had heard that the drone were in his area, and was getting ready to be collected. He styled his hair and made sure his cape wasn’t wrinkled. Then he waited on the deck of his ship for the drones.

He knew most of his friends weren’t going. He had always known Feferi wouldn’t be going because she needed to get ready to fight the Empress. But she hadn’t talked with him since after she ended their moirallegiance when they were six. He winced and tried not to think about how he cried to everyone he knew about it and begged her to come back for perigees. He had still continued to feed her lusus, though. She’s going to have to do that herself, now that he will be gone. He always knew Kanaya would stay, too, because she would be in the brooding caverns with the mother grubs. He always knew he would miss them, but he had time to prepare himself for that.

His other friends are staying too. He didn’t have time to become accustomed to that fact because they hadn’t trusted him with their plans. He only found out their plans by accident. They never trusted him enough to tell him, and that hurt a lot. He didn’t have the same time to prepare himself for the fact that he would probably never see them again. Karkat wouldn’t be there to talk with him about anything for hours. H would never get to FLARP or roleplay with Vriska, Tavros, Terezi, or Nepeta again. Gamzee and Equius were weird, but they were nice to talk to sometimes, too. Hell, he would even miss Sollux, though he doubted Sollux would miss him.

He wished they had asked him to go with them. Even though Eridan had looked forward to this day for sweeps, he just felt empty when the drones showed up to take him away.

The drones had gathered the trolls turning eight sweeps into one group. Then the ships came down from the sky. The young trolls watched in disbelief, wonder, and horror as the ships that would carry them off Alternia landed, and adults walked out. That was all normal. It happened every year.

What was not normal was the gigantic ship that followed those smaller ships. It was a huge warship, unlike the small new recruit ships that had already arrived. Then, once it had gotten low enough to see, the young trolls gasped, yelled, and cried. On the warship, which was much bigger than any of them had originally thought, was the Empress’s sign in the Empress's color.

The young trolls stared in disbelief as the ship landed. This was unheard of! The Empress almost never came back to Alternia. Why would she do it now? Inside the ship, the Empress waited.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were led through tall, empty, metal halls, and up countless stairs. The whole ship was bright and full of trolls, mostly highbloods, but the atmosphere felt dark. Everything about it made Sollux uncomfortable.
> 
> Eridan knew he was important, but not this important. In the past, his ego would have flared up, and he would have been convinced that all this was because he deserves special treatment or something like that. Now, he knew he was probably in trouble.

Sollux tried to slouch and hunch his shoulders to make himself look smaller. He peered around, both hoping to see someone he knew and dreading it. He didn’t see anyone, except maybe Eridan, but that was to be expected.

He felt wary of everything that was happening. He didn’t think that the Empress usually came. This was probably about something else than the new adults. Something to do with Feferi. The thought made Sollux shiver.

He watched with everyone else as a blue blood came out of the Empress’s ship. He had something in his hand. The blue blood walked back and forth through the lines of new trolls that the drones had neatly organized. They looked carefully at the face and sign of each troll. He stopped in front of one troll, who was too far away for Sollux to recognize. Something was said to the closest drone, one that still had the blood of an olive blood dripping of it, and the drone moved toward the young troll. People around flinched and waited for the young troll to be culled, but it never came. Instead, the drone grabbed the young troll, who Sollux still couldn’t see very well, and hauled them off in the direction of the Empress’s ship. The blue blood t5hen continued to walk through the lines of trolls. Soon, the blue blooded adult loomed over the line Sollux was in. Then blue eyes stared down at him, and Sollux clenched his hands, willing his psionics not to act up. The blue blood looked at Sollux, then back at what Sollux could now see was a screen with pictures on it, multiple times. When he turned away, Sollux started to relax. He tensed back up when the blue blood turned to the nearest drone instead of the next troll in line.

“Take this one,” the blue blood commanded, and the drone whirred into action. Sollux was seized and carried to the entrance of the Empress’s ship. There he could finally see who the other troll was. And it was fucking Eridan. Sollux sighed. 

“Anyone but him,” he thought. He coninued to sulk until the blue blood came back, without anymore trolls. The drones dropped both him and Eridan, but they were immediately surrounded by other high blood guards. Sollux glanced at Eridan, but his face gave nothing away.

They were led through tall, empty, metal halls, and up countless stairs. The whole ship was bright and full of trolls, mostly highbloods, but the atmosphere felt dark. Everything about it made Sollux uncomfortable. He wanted to be at his hive, talking with Karkat or Ferferi or any of his friends.

Then they reached it.

Eridan knew he was important, but not this important. In the past, his ego would have flared up, and he would have been convinced that all this was because he deserves special treatment or something like that. Now, he knew he was probably in trouble. With Sollux here, it was definitely something to do with Feferi. He couldn’t think of another reason they would bring him.

When at last they reached giant doors with the Empress’s sign on them, and the guards stopped to make sure their uniforms were on perfectly, he gulped. He didn’t look over at Sollux, that would be a sign of weakness. He had to do this alone. He took a deep breath, and stared straight ahead as the doors were pushed open. His eyes widened as he saw a big chair near the center of the back of the room. Next to the chair was the helmsman, strung up and bleeding. Sitting upon the chair, was the Empress.

“As requested by Her Imperious Condescension, the trolls affiliated with the heiress,” announced one of the guards.

“Only two?” questioned a voice with such power that Eridan knew he would be able to tell who it was even if he had lived out of touch with every piece of information about the empire and knew nothing about her. He had to will himself not to start shaking. 

“No one else was in the group that was gathered,” explained the guard.

“Runaways?” The Empress drummed her fingers on her throne, but her voice held amusement.

“It would seem so,” the guard confirmed.

“Bring these two over here,” she beckoned with her hand, and the guards pushed them forward. Eridan felt his legs start to shake as they got closer. His palms got sweaty, and his heart rate sped up. He tried to calm his breathing to keep himself from panicking. Once they were deemed close enough, the Empress leaned down slightly, and looked them over. “So you are some of the friends of my descendant. Not just friends, right? A quadrant mate and a former quantnet mate. We might not even need to stay while the drones find the runaways,” she explained, but clearly to herself. To the side, Eridan saw a few sparks from Sollux. Eridan gulped. He didn’t want to be here if Sollux decided to try to cause some problems. The Empress just laughed.

“Oh, a feisty one. Just like he used to be,” she said, turning to the helmsman. Then she stared at the helmsman, looked back at Sollux, and back at the helmsman. Eridan saw something glint in her eyes. “Exactly like him, it would seem.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Helmsman’s descendant was taken to be prepared to take his ancestor’s place. She needed a new one anyway, this one was getting boring.

The Empress called in guards to separate the two prisoners. The Helmsman’s descendant was taken to be prepared to take his ancestor’s place. She needed a new one anyway, this one was getting boring. The only problem was that she could never find anyone who was as interesting as he had been, and in all honesty, she had gotten a little attached to him. Now, she had the perfect replacement.

The seadweller looked familiar, but the memory seemed so distant that it didn’t seem important. There were tons of highbloods on this ship anyway, she probably knew his ancestors a long time ago or something. While he was being taken to a regular prisoner cell, she looked through the file on him. 

The Empress always had systems in place to monitor what the young trolls on Alternia were doing both outside, and on the internet. The yellow blood had managed to block all the internet watching systems for himself, the heiress, and all their friends. There was barely any information on him besides him having been seen with the heiress a few times. She put in the effort to travel and visit him, so they were probably quantrantmates.

Eridan’s file had much more information on it, so it took a while to read through his. It was pretty obvious why he was so familiar pretty quickly. She didn’t have to read through all his FLARPing and travel records to know who he was. He had been the current orphaner. He is Dualscar’s descendant. He lost all contact with the heiress a few sweeps ago, after sweeps and swees of constant interaction between them. So, former quantantmates.

Of course her guards had put these relations to the heiress with their pictures, so she knew that already, but it was still good to know herself. The Empress sat back in her throne, and waited. It would be a few hours until the new helmsman was ready.

Sollux didn’t like the expression that had been on the Empress’s face when she had connected that he was her helmsman’s descendant. Hat was something Sollux really wished he could have gone his whole life without knowing.

The guards pulled him into a room with a bed in the middle. On the far end of the room was a work desk with tools. Around the room, on the walls, were diagrams of helmsman, and the wires that connect them into the ship. This is when Sollux stopped trying to contain his psionics. He started thrashing in the guards hands, and pulled them away with his psionics. He screamed, broke and threw things and people, tried to run.

In the end, it took over 15 guards, but they stopped him. They took him to the room, put him on the bed, and strapped him down. A mask was put over his face, and then he was unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eridan sat on the mattress and sulked. This wasn’t how his life was supposed to go.

The cell wasn’t dirty. The whole ship had been pristine and grand. The jail wasn’t decorated like the rest of the ship, but it was still made of metal that seemed to shine from how often it was probably washed. The only thing that wasn’t the quality an empress would demand was the dingy mattress and blanket that took up a third of the tiny cell and the clothes they put him in. The door had one small opening that was closed by a flap, but other than that the cell was completely closed in by four metal walls. The walls also seemed to block all outside noise because as soon as the door slammed shut, he couldn’t hear the guards that had dragged him there anymore.

Eridan sat on the mattress and sulked. This wasn’t how his life was supposed to go. He was supposed to become a military captain, respected by all because of his blood and tactics. He wasn’t supposed to be sitting in a cell in the Empress’s ship, missing his friends, and wishing he had been asked to run from the empire with them. He wasn’t supposed to want to run from the empire, and it wasn’t supposed to see him as an enemy, as a prisoner. He wasn’t supposed to be sitting in ugly, scratchy prisoner clothes, and trying not to cry.

He sat in the cell for what felt like a few hours before they shoved some food in through the flap in the door. He didn’t eat because he didn’t feel hungry. He just wanted to go to his hive. Eridan laid down on the mattress, on top of the blanket, and just tried to sleep.

When Sollux woke up, he immediately wished he hadn’t. On the floor, was what was left of the Helmsman. Sollux was looking down at him because he was strung up off the ground, where the helmsman used to be. He wasn’t just a helmsman, he was the Empress’s helmsman. He turned to where her throne is, and saw her staring at him.

“Oh good, you’re awake!” She clapped her hands together, in that way Feferi always had, and smiled. Sollux didn’t like her smile. It didn’t make his happy like Feferi’s smile always had, it made him want to run. “We are going to leave the planet, though we’re not going far. We’re just going to orbit it,” She explained. She then said “Helmsman, lift off,” and Sollux felt this horrible pain ripped through his body. It felt like something was ripping his psionics out of his body. He had never lost a limb, but he imagined it was similar. He screamed and shook, and pulled on the wires, but he couldn’t get away. As he screamed, blood started coming out of his nose, eyes, and mouth.

Then it stopped. The pain stopped immediately, but his psionics crashing back into his body made more blood come out of his face. He coughed on it, and he realized it was dripping down the front of his body. His clothes, which was now something like a jumpsuit, looked like it could have been made out of the blood. Then he passed out.

He woke again, still covered in blood. The first helmsman still lay there on the ground.

“I forgot how messy it is the first few times. I think I’ve missed the screams, though. It’s never the same once they get used to it,” she said, moving to stand in front of him. She said this like she wanted him to respond, eye contact and all. So he spit his blood into her face. She just laughed and wiped it off her face. “You’ll be fun to have around. Much more interesting than this lump,” she kicked the Helmsman. The Helmsman didn’t move or say anything. Sollux was pretty sure he was dead.

Overcome by emotion and woozy from blood loss, Sollux started to laugh. The Empress looked at him, confused, and then he passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

The Empress had trolls on scout mission searching new galaxies for planets with resources the empire needed. She was not needed until the actual conquering was going to be taking place. This time period was always boring. The Empress would use it to visit other colonies or her lusus or do other tasks that weren’t as important or interesting. These boring stretches of time were the worst part of living forever.

This time though, the Empress had something to do. Her lusus was preoccupied with another fuchsia, her descendant, in fact. The Empress had collected a few of her friends, coincidentally, the most important ones. But, her descendant had no idea of what fate had fallen upon her friends. It was time to let her know.

It had been a few days since he had been put in the cell. During that time, nobody had entered the cell. Eridan only knew how many days it had been because of the pattern of meals, which guards gave him those meals, and the amount of light in the hallway when he was given the meals. If he was correct, he had been here for about ten days. He wondered how his friend were doing; if they’d been caught. He wondered what the Empress had done to Sollux.

Eridan looked up when he heard the door cloak, but it wasn’t trolls giving him food, it was someone undoing the lock. Two guards opened the door and pulled him off of the bed. They escorted him from the prison to the Empress’s room. 

Eridan’s eyes widened when he saw Sollux hanging up as the new helmsman. He remembered how Sollux had been terrified of becoming one. Sollux looked up when he heard footsteps, and made eye contact with Eridan. His glasses had been replaced with goggles that resembled the ones Feferi had always worn, but Eridan could see Sollux’s eyes through these. Sollux just looked… defeated.

Then the Empress leaned forward in her throne, drawing Eridan’s attention away from Sollux. She gestured to a chair and a desk next to her throne. The guards pushed his over to it and sat him to the chair. Since the chair and table had been carried here and could be moved easily, the guards chained his feet to a part of the Empress’s throne that was made for exactly that. Then they left, leaving Eridan alone with Sollux and the Empress. The Empress placed a laptop on the table in front of Eridan.

“I will tell you what you will do, and you will do it. If you don’t dit, or do something I don’t tell you to do, there will be consequences. First, you will open up Trollian, and log in. You will open up the log with my descendant then you will wait until I tell you what to say. You will use your typing quirk, so she thinks it is you. If you don’t type exactly what I tell you to type, or try to add any hidden messages, there will be consequences. Understand?” The Empress tapped her fingers on her throne impatiently. Eridan nodded. “Good, now begin.”

Eridan opened up Trollian on the laptop and logged in. He grimaced because Sollux could see him type in his password. Then again, Sollux had hacked into his Trollian account before, so it didn’t matter anyway. He opened up the log with Feferi.

\-- caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC] --

CC: you )(avent glubbed wit)( me in forever

CC: i t)(oug)(t you were leaving planet

CC: eridan?

You looked up to the Empress so she could tell you what to say. She looked at what Feferi was saying to you.

“Okay, here is what to say: ‘Her Imperious Condescension knows who is closest to you. She already has two of them and she had trolls looking for the others.’”

CC: it never took you t)(is long to respond

CC: w)(at is going on?

CA: her imperious condescension knowws wwho is closest to you

CA: she already has twwo of them and she had trolls looking for others

CC: why do you know t)(is?

CC: IF T)(IS IS A JOK-E STOP

CA: her ship is orbiting alternia

CA: her descendant wwill not be a threat to her much longer

CC: w)(at

CA: surrender or fight

CA: do not hide

CA: your matesprit and friends are at risk

CC: -ERIDAN YOUR SO S)(-ELLFIS)(

CC: its good no one told you where everyone was hiding

CA: your time is limited heiress

CC: CLAM UP

CC: t)(is is w)(y i never wanted to glub wit)( you again

\-- caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC] --

CC: I WIS)( WE WERE NEVER MORAY--E-ELS

Eridan logged out, and the Empress took the laptop back. He stared blankly at the table as she left the room leaving him chained to her throne.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Without Eridan glaring at him, Sollux didn’t know what to feel. They both just stared at each other.

Sollux didn’t know what to say. As soon as the Empress had left the room, Eridan had started crying. Sollux knew that locking trolls in cells for days and not letting them talk to other trolls didn’t have good effects, but Eridan showing any form of weakness in front of him was kind of horrifying.

“Yo, fishface,” Sollux interrupted. Eridan stopped crying, wiped off his face with his sleeve, and turned to look at Sollux. Eridan was glared at him. No, not glared; squinted. They had taken Eridan’s glasses. So, Eridan didn’t just have them for the hipster aesthetic. Without Eridan glaring at him, Sollux didn’t know what to feel. They both just stared at each other. Then Eridan sighed.

“Hey sol,” he responded. “What do you want?”

“What did FF say?” Sollux questioned.

“Fef just asked if it was a joke and then yelled at me.” Eridan said this like it didn’t matter to him, but Sollux knew better.

“Oh.” This had to be the most awkward conversation Sollux had ever had. Whenever they talked, Eridan always rambled on about anything and everything and how it made him feel for forever. Now he just stared at the table, silent. Sollux wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to do. He didn’t even like Eridan, but anyone was better than the Empress.

Sollux was pretty sure the Empress was trying to black flirt with him. It was horribly uncomfortable since Sollux couldn’t move or use his psionics. It made Eridan’s and Vriska’s horrible flirting seem like the best thing Sollux had ever witnessed. At least they had both hated each other. Sollux didn’t hate the Empress romantically, he wanted Feferi to show up and kill her. They had only been here ten days and he was already wishing he had the ability to kill himself. Not that he would do that before he was absolutely sure feferi wasn’t coming to kill the Empress and save him.

“How long do you think they’ll you here,” Sollux asked. Eridan shrugged. Sollux wanted to ask Eridan if he could break the chains with high blood strength, or with high blood rage, if they absolutely needed to get out somehow. But, Sollux was sure they were being monitored in some way.

The Empress came back in and came up to Sollux. She reached her hand up, and tapped against his horns with her fingernails. When she turned to walk away, Sollux grimaced and turned his head, trying to shake the feeling of her touching him away. Eridan saw and silently laughed. Sollux glared at him, and for a moment everything seemed normal. It was just him and Eridan arguing, and it was the only thing that mattered. 

Then, the Empress ruined it.

“Let’s contact a few more of your friends.” She placed the laptop in front of Eridan again. “We’ll start at the top of the hemospectrum and move down, and we’’l do the one who hides their blood color last.”

Sollux watched as Eridan logged in.

\-- caliginousAquarium [CA] began trolling terminallyCapricious [TC] --

TC: WhAtS uP bRoThEr

CA: friend of the heiress

CA: you wwill learn wwhy not to go against the empire

CA: her imperious condescension wwill find you

CA: twwo of your friends are already captured

CA: givve yourself up noww and you may livve

CA: if you help the heiress you wwill be culled wwithout hesitation

TC: BrO?

\-- caliginousAquarium [CA] ceased trolling terminallyCapricious [TC] --

\-- caliginousAquarium [CA] began trolling centaursTesticle [CT] --

CT: seadweller

CA: friend of the heiress

CA: you wwill learn wwhy not to go against the empire

CA: her imperious condescension wwill find you

CA: twwo of your friends are already captured

CA: givve yourself up noww and you may livve

CA: if you help the heiress you wwill be culled wwithout hesitation

\-- caliginousAquarium [CA] ceased trolling centaursTesticle [CT] --

This continued for almost everyone. Sollux tried his best to read over Eridan’s shoulder, but sometimes he couldn't do it because the Empress blocked his view. So far, Eridan had followed the Empress’s directions perfectly. The only interesting thing was the reaction his other friends were having to what he told them. Most who responded got angry at Eridan. They assumed he was betraying them.

\-- caliginousAquarium [CA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG] --

CA: friend of the heiress

CA: you wwill learn wwhy not to go against the empire

CA: her imperious condescension wwill find you

CA: twwo of your friends are already captured

CA: givve yourself up noww and you may livve

CA: if you help the heiress you wwill be culled wwithout hesitation

CG: WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU NOOKSNIFFING FUCKASS

CG: WHAT SORT OF HOOFBEAST SHIT DID YOU JUST SPEW IN MY DIRECTION

CG: IF YOU FOR EVEN A SECOND THINK YOU CAN COME TO ME WITH THIS PILE OF  
SHIT AND EXPECT ME TO DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE A BULGELICKING PILE OF FILTH

“That’s everyone, so you can log out,” The Empress stood, stretched her back, and yawned.

CA: kar help

Eridan exited the chat and was logging out by the time the Empress turned back to watch. Sollux repressed the smirk that was trying to fight its way onto his face. Maybe Eridan wasn’t suck a suck-up after all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “A screenshot from the video footage, Empress,” the messenger said holding up a handheld device.
> 
> “Help kar. Hmmm,” the Empress said under her breath.

The Empress decided to leave the seadweller chained to her throne. She had the guards take away the desk and chair, though. The seadweller could probably throw them. Leaving the two of them in here together could be a really good thing or a really bad thing. The Empress didn’t want video footage of the important things this happen in this room to get out anywhere. But, there were security cameras in the room. The solution was to have people who watched the live footage from the cameras at all times, but none of the footage was ever stored.

The Empress made sure to face the laptop towards one of those cameras. As soon as she left the room to put away the laptop that wasn’t needed anymore, a messenger came running up.

“A screenshot from the video footage, Empress,” the messenger said holding up a handheld device.

“Help kar. Hmmm,” the Empress said under her breath. One option was to do as she said and punish the seadweller for disobeying her. Another option was to not let them know what she knew. Keeping the information that she knew they were trying to ask for help could be powerful. They’d think they had the upper hand on her when they really didn’t.

‘Yes,’ the Empress decided, ‘I’ll let them live in their ignorance and let them believe they can trick me.’

Eridan stared at Sollux. He had let his head fall limp again. His skinny body was being held up by the pink helmsman wires, leaving him defenceless. There had been times where all Eridan had wished was to see Sollux powerless and broken. He had taken Feferi from him. Now, Eridan knew better. Sollux was not someone who was meant to be broken. Eridan, on the other hand, deserved whatever punishment the world threw at him. As much as he tried to deny it to himself, he really did deserve this.

These thoughts brought back other bad thoughts. How his friends didn’t trust him enough to tell him they were running away together. How they all believed he would turn on them as quick as the Empress had made it seem he did. How Feferi had called his selfish. None of his friends trusted him at all. And Eridan didn’t blame them. Wasn’t working for the Empire what he had always wanted? 

Wasn’t it?

Eridan sat on the floor, staring at the floor, unable to find any hope that anyone was coming to save him. They might save Sollux, but they’d probably just kill him when Feferi came to kill the Empress. ‘It’s fine,’ he told himself, ‘this is what you wanted.’ But Eridan knew he was lying to himself. He just wanted someone to care. Someone that would know he wouldn’t just leave his friends if he could help them. 

He had to get someone, anyone, to care.

“Sol,” Eridan said. “I hope you know that if there was anyway I could help you, I would do it.” Sollux didn’t respond. Eridan didn’t know if he was asleep or ignoring him. Eridan pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them. Then, for the second time that day, he cried.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey, fishdick, wake up!” Sollux yelled.

Sollux wasn’t enjoying life. Eridan had cried himself to sleep, and the Empress had returned. She kept trying to start arguments with him and get him angry. It was the most awful black flirting he had ever been put through, and Eridan had tried flirting with him before. Compared to this, Eridan trying to black flirt with him to get Feferi to be their auspistice was the best thing to happen to him. Back then, he was at least able to tell Eridan to fuck off.

Sollux refused to respond to the Empress, which was clearly making her upset. But, eventually she got bored of him and left. At least now he knew that the Empress really, really hated being bored. As long as he wasn;t interesting, she wouldn’t pay too much attention to him.

One thing that really sucked about being a helmsman was that Sollux was getting bored. He was hung up by his hands and legs all day, and given nothing to do. He couldn’t code or hack into anything, or troll his friends or his matesprit. After letting Eridan sleep for a while, Sollux decided to wake him up, so he would have someone to talk to.

“Hey, fishdick, wake up!” Sollux yelled. He watched for a moment as Eridan didn’t appear to have heard. Then, Eridan slowly rolled onto his back, still on the floor, and looked up at Sollux.

“What, Sol,” He muttered, angry at having been woken up.

“The Empress came in while you were asleep.”

“Great, she saw me lyin’ on the floor.” Eridan sighed and sat up. “Did she say anything?”

“Yeah,” Sollux laughed, “She tried to black flirt with me. It was gross.”

“Sounds gross,” Eridan agreed. His expression didn’t change, but his eyes seemed to flare up. He didn’t want the Empress black flirting with Sollux, then. “She didn’t say anythin’ about fef?”

“No,” Sollux said, saddened. Eridan seemed to deflate too.

“Well, she will probably come to get you out sooner than later. She’s probably training twice as hard to challenge the Empress, now,” Eridan reassured. Sollux didn’t like that Eridan was trying to comfort him. It made Sollux think about how bad a situation they were in, if Eridan of all people was being nice. Sollux wished Eridan would just go back to yelling at him.

“That almost sounded nice,” Sollux teased. “I didn’t think you were capable of that.”

“I’m plenty nice. You just don’t usually deserve it,” Eridan huffed and crossed his arms.

“You don’t deserve anything you got, and you still got it anyway,” Sollux smirked.

“You’re just jealous,” Eridan retorted.

“You’re just spoiled.”

“You were always just a greasy, lazy, computer nerd. Why would that get you anything?” Eridan was glaring at Sollux, at this point. His mouth was set in a scowl when he wasn’t talking.

“You were always just an arrogant hipster,” Sollux replied.

“Fuck you!” Eridan sneered. Sollux laughed, as Eridan turned around suddenly. He was pretty sure Eridan was trying to hide a blush. Arguing with Eridan was the most fun Sollux had had since he had been dragged into this ship. Eridan hadn’t even called him a lowblood or a pissblood or anything like that the whole time.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Empress had decided that she liked have Eridan in the room too. He was only occasionally taken out so he could use the bathroom. He just slept on the floor, but it was better than being locked in a room by himself again. There were a few things that made being in the Empress’s room horrible, though.

It had been a week since Eridan and Sollux had that first argument. The Empress had decided that she liked have Eridan in the room too. He was only occasionally taken out so he could use the bathroom. He just slept on the floor, but it was better than being locked in a room by himself again. There were a few things that made being in the Empress’s room horrible, though. The first reason was why the Empress like having him in the room. They were both more likely to do something “interesting” if they were both in the room. 

When the Empress held her trident up to Eridan and asked him to give her information on where Feferi’s hive was and how to defeat her, Sollux would react. He would wince and turn away, too uncomfortable to look at Eridan trying to hold himself together. Eridan refused to give up any information and sometimes this ended badly. She would hit him to the ground with the blunt side of her trident. Or she would slam it into his stomach so hard he threw up. Then Sollux would try to shake his head at Eridan as he went to stand back up. 

Eridan suspected Sollux would’ve done this even if Eridan was someone Sollux had never met, but sometimes he liked to think that Sollux didn’t want to see the Empress hurt him specifically.

When the ship needed supplies and had to leave Alternia’s orbit to get more, Eridan would react to the pain it put Sollux through. Sollux would scream and scream and blood would be coming out of his face. Eridan would cover his ears, trying to block out Sollux’s screams. Seeing Sollux’s blood almost made his pass out once, and he stumbled, his legs shaking and mind dizzy.

The Empress would watch their reactions, and laugh. She was horrible.

The second reason was that she continued trying to flirt with Sollux. Eridan just didn’t like watching that. Eridan didn’t want her to flirt with or hurt Sollux. When Sollux was being used as a helmsman and was screaming, sometimes Eridan would close his eyes and pretend Sollux was screaming because of him. It never worked because the screams were from horrible, horrible pain and Eridan never wanted to hurt anyone that badly.

When she would leave, Sollux and Eridan would talk and argue. They would talk about anything. They talked about what they always did at their hive, what they talked about with their other friends, and what they would do once they were rescued by Feferi. It always turned into an argument eventually. The arguments weren’t always bitter, though. It felt like they both knew that, even though they didn’t like each other, they trusted each other too. And that trust was wonderful to Eridan.

He always left the arguments blushing and hoping the blush he saw on Sullox’s face wasn’t his imagination.

Some of the conversations about what they would do once Feferi saved them upset Eridan. He knew his friends had never trusted him. They didn’t ask him to run away with them. They didn’t even tell him they were running away. Then, there was what the Empress had Eridan send to all his friends. Eridan knew in his heart that they would only come for Sollux, and that there was no hope for him.

The Empress was informed by guards that a group of trolls led by her descendant were fighting through the guards stationed on Alternia. Spies had reported they were seen stealing the ships they ransacked. The Empress smiled and drummed her fingers on her throne.

“Looks like I’ll be challenged soon.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Maybe it was just a practice run,” Sollux said, after she had left.

It was five days after Sollux had heard the Empress say that she thought she would be challenged soon that alarms started going off. During that time, Sollux had felt much happier, and Eridan looked happier too. Feferi was coming to save them soon.

The Empress didn’t look very worried. She never even got her trident out. Her guards got Feferi to leave the ship and run away before she even got to the throne room.

“See, my descendants will never be strong enough to defeat me,” the Empress gloated.

“Maybe it was just a practice run,” Sollux said, after she had left. “Or maybe someone got injured badly. You know how protective Feferi can be.”

“Or maybe she was killed,” Eridan sulked.

“Wouldn’t the Empress have said if she was killed.”

I don’t know, Sol. You think I know what goes on in her fucked up head!”

“Maybe because your head is just as fucked up. You used to want to kill everyone!”

“Oh, you try killing a ton of lusii and knowing your sentencing trolls to die all the time and not think it’s what you’re meant to do.”

“Exactly, being the orphaner drove you as crazy as the Empress is. You just agreed with me.”

“I fuckin' hate you,” Eridan sneered. Then, once he realized what he said, he turned to face the other way. Neither of them spoke until the Empress came back. After she left, they pretended it didn’t happen.

Sollux had known Eridan probably hated him. He had tried to deny it to himself, though. He told himself that Eridan was just desperate and clinging to the only attention he could get. But then, why would he look so upset when the Empress flirted with Sollux. He tried to tell himself it was hate, but only platonic hate. But then, why would Eridan blush so much. Was he just getting angry or did he actually hate him?

Sollux had began to suspect he hated Eridan too. Why would he think so much about if Eridan hated him or not if it didn’t matter to him? He didn’t think about it all the time back when Eridan was trying to get black to get Feferi ashen. Why did it hurt so much when the Empress hurt Eridan? Eridan was a prick, and Sollux though he would enjoy watching him get hurt. Why did it feel so wrong to watch the Empress hit him down when Sollux thought the ground was where Eridan deserved to be? Was it because he wanted to kick Eridan down himself? Why did he shake his head when Eridan stood up after the Empress had hit him down? Why did the idea of the Empress killing Eridan make him want to rip her apart?

He knew the answer, deep down, and that’s what scared him the most.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I ain’t supposed to do this, but this room’s cold as shit.” He took off his jacket and threw it to Eridan. He thought for a moment, then threw Eridan his gun too.

The next day, the alarms went off again. This time, the alarms were preceded by explosions and horrible shaking that shook the seadweller prisoner off his feet. The Empress scowled. She hadn’t expected them back so soon.

The guards knew what to do if her descendant got far enough into the ship, so when four came running in, she knew her descendant was close. They took her new helmsman down, they could rely on the power saved up for a while, and unchained the seadweller. They were to take them to one of the many storage rooms and lock them in. Then, to punish the seadweller for contacting a friend, they would give him a gun and a guard uniform coat. The Empress wanted to see friendships fall apart. It would be so interesting. When the friends, who already suspected the seadweller to be working with her, found him looking like a guard, it would be the confirmation they needed that he wasn’t to be trusted. They might even kill him.

And, since the seadweller didn’t know that she knew he tried to contact someone, he wouldn’t find it suspicious if one of the guards pretended to be going against orders by giving it to him. They won’t suspect anything.

Eridan smiled, knowing Feferi was getting closer this time. The Empress actually had people pull them out of the room. They were taken to a room with a ton of metal crates and they were pushed far into the room and told to sit. Sollux, who hadn’t moved anything but his neck in weeks, practically had to be carried. One of the guards turned back to them after the other guards, who had walked faster, were a while away.

“I ain’t supposed to do this, but this room’s cold as shit.” He took off his jacket and threw it to Eridan. He thought for a moment, then threw Eridan his gun too. “Empress has been much happier with the two a you around. Stay safe.” Then he left too, and locked the door behind him. The room was very dark, but there was some light. Once the door closed, Eridan could only clearly make out objects less than five feet away from him. Next to him, Sollux, who was skinny and weak, shivered.

“Sol, take the coat,” Eridan demanded.

“I don’t need want your pity,” Sollux grumbled, taking the coat anyway.

“I would never pity you, Sol. You’re disgustin’,” Eridan countered. He made eye contact with Sollux and it was much better now that he wasn’t feet higher than him, hanging in the helmsman wires.

“Oh, I’m disgusting. You obviously haven’t looked in a mirror since we left.” Sollux looked like he was thinking really hard about something. His eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was in a slight frown. Eridan decided to respond anyway.

“I haven’t looked in a mirror? You clearly-”

He was cut off by Sollux kissing him. It wasn’t a gentle kiss. They bit each other and grabbed each other’s heads and arms and backs harshly. Eridan, knowing that Sollux was weak from having been a helmsman, was more gentle than Sollux was to him, but Sollux, weak as he was, couldn’t do much damage anyway. When they pulled apart to breath, Eridan tasted blood in his mouth. They smiled at each other for a while.

“I fucking hate you,” Sollux said, putting his head down on eridan’s shoulder.

“I hate you too, sol,” Eridan replied, pushing Sollux off of him. They sat together waiting for someone to come get them. They sat with their hands clasped together, but they dug their nails into each other’s hands.


	12. Chapter 12

The throne room doors were flung open and her descendant walked in. The Empress stood from her throne and picked up her trident.

“Tell me where my matesprit is,” her descendant demanded.

“Never,” the Empress replied. “He is my helmsman now.” Her descendant screamed and charged, holding a trident of her own. Behind her, a few other trolls entered the room and pulled out weapons. The other trolls behind her left, presumably to go look for the prisoners.

Sollux put most of his weight on Eridan as they walked closer to the door. His legs and arms were so shaky it was hard to do anything. His legs almost gave out twice. Eridan just laughed at him, but continued helping him across the room. They had decided that being close to the door was better because they had a better chance of being found by someone who knew them, than if they sat hidden by all the crates in the back of the dark room. They waited, still holding hands, until Sollux heard a voice.

“Does that sound like KK?” He asked.

“Yeah, it does sound like kar,” Eridan confirmed.

“Hey, hey! We're in here,” Sollux yelled. He heard the voice stop mid sentence and then footsteps came closer to the door. Then a snap was heard and the door swung open. Karkat and Aradia were outside the room. Karkat held some sort of metal device, that looked like it had been made by Equius, that Sollux presumed had been used to break the lock. He dropped the device onto the ground and walked towards them.

“Sollux, Eridan! We need to get out of here quickly, so stand up you idiotic sacks of hoofbeasthit,” Krkat yelled. Sollux used Eridan’s shoulder to push himself up.

“Good to see you too KK,” he laughed. Aradia pointed at Eridan who was now standing and holding the gun. She turned to Sollux.

“Can we trust him? He was working with the Empress to try to intimidate us into nit helping Feferi,” she questioned.

“But, he did also send me a message asking for help,” Karkat added.

“Yeah, you can trust him,” Sollux confirmed. “She forced him to send everybody that, it wasn’t his choice. She kept his in a cell or chained up all the time. He never gave away any information to her about where Feferi probably was.”

“Okay,” Aradia agreed. “We can probably trust him then.”

“Also, he’s my kismesis,” Sollux added.

“What?” Karkat yelled. "Since when?"


	13. Chapter 13

Eridan watched as Feferi ran up to Sollux and planted a big kiss on his lips. She then pulled him into a hug and didn’t let him go. Sollux just smiled and let her. Eridan was just glad they weren’t with the Empress again.

On the way back to Alternia, Karkat made him tell the whole story of how he and Sollux had become kismesises. Eridan didn’t give him all of the details and really avoided giving him some of them. Like the details about him crying and how he sulked for hours after he thought Sollux had rejected him by not saying anything after Eridan had told him he hated him.

“It’s a good thing you asked me for help. If you hadn’t sent that message the others probably would’ve just killed you on sight,” Karkat explained. “But once I showed them that message, they realized they were probably overreacting. Feferi felt bad about some of the stiff she said, but she isn’t going tio tell you herself because she’s a stubborn buldgesniffing nookwhiffer.

“Great to know the friends I’ve had all my life trust me as much as I trust them,” Eridan grumbled.

“Of course we trust you,” Karkat argued.

“Really, than why did they want to kill me after I did one shady thing? Why didn’t you tell me you were all going into hiding? Why wasn’t I invited?” Eridan sulked.

“Wasn’t becoming a military captain always your dream?” Karkat asked.

“You really think I’d want to leave all my friends behind, even if it was for my dreams?” Eridan asked. “You all know I hate being lonely.” Karkat reached out to put his hand on Eridan’s shoulder, but he flinched away. The only people who had touched his in the past few weeks had been the Empress of the guards and they always hurt him. Karkat just put his arm down.

“We’ll include you in stuff from now on,” Karkat said before getting up to check on Sollux.

Sollux spent a really long time crying while hugging Feferi. She just hugged him tight the whole time and pressed soft kisses onto his face.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come for you sooner. I wanted to make sure I could win, and I had to feed my lusus instead of Eridan since he was with you,” Feferi explained.

“It’s okay, I’m just glad you got me out,” Sollux said.

“Karkat told me that you said Eridan is your kismesis, right?” Feferi aksed. Sollux nodded, blushing, and put his face down on Feferi;s shoulder. She laughed and it made him smile. “I hope he makes you happy.”

“I really hate him. He’s the worst,” Sollux said. Feferi laughs harder this time.

\-- twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA] --

TA: <3<

CA: <3<


End file.
